Communication networks and computer networks include network nodes, for example formed by communications installations and data processing devices, as well as the connecting lines connecting the individual network nodes to one another. In this context, a multiplicity of different network structures (also referred to in the literature as network topologies) are known, such as a star network, a ring network, a tree network, a chain network or a bus network.
In networks, a distinction is drawn between connectionless and connection-oriented networks, according to the topology of the respective network. Connectionless networks omit a signaling phase which precedes information transmission between communication terminals associated with the networks and within the context of which a connection is set up between the communication terminals. In a connectionless network, for example, an IP-oriented (Internet Protocol) computer network, an information packet to be transmitted is transmitted to each communication terminal associated with the network. The decision regarding which communication terminal processes the received information packet further or rejects it is made by the recipient of the information packet.
In a connection-oriented network, for example an ISDN-oriented communication network, in which information is transmitted from network node to network node via a connection set up previously within the context of a signaling connection, an important feature for optimum transmission of a message via the network is for the network topology to be known; i.e., for information to be held about how the individual network nodes are connected to one another.
The present invention is therefore directed toward providing methods which permit network topologies to be ascertained and visualized, particularly for a connection-oriented network.